The Big
Sky Observatory (BSO) is owned and
operated by the Big Sky Astronomical
Society and is situated on land that we
lease from the Government of Alberta (Alberta
Environment). The observatory is
based on a modified
SkyShed design and it is 12-feet
wide and 16-feet long. The Big Sky
Observatory is a public observatory that
is dedicated to education in the fields
of math, science, and technology.
Currently, the observatory is home to
Dr.
Karl Ivarson's Celestron 11 telescope. The
Grand Opening of the Big
Sky Observatory was held on October 18,
2008.
Where in the world is the Big Sky
Observatory?
The geographic coordinates of the Big
Sky Observatory are as follows...
Decimal Degrees
Degrees, Minutes, Seconds
50.23° North
113.40° West
50° 13' 48" North
113° 24' 00" West
Here's a map...
Dr. Karl Ivarson's
Telescope Celestron
0.28m (11-inch) C-11 SCT
Thank you!
The following
individuals and organizations helped to
make the Big Sky Observatory a reality
by donating money and/or materials to
the project. We thank them for their
generosity and for helping us, help
kids, reach for the stars.
Dr. Karl
Ivarson
Lawrence Haddow (Trevcon
Enterprises)
Russell Sawatzky (Sawatzky
Insurance)
High River Explorers
Tom Williams (GiveMeaning)
Nigel Bain
Abram Cripps
James Durbano
Harry Gelden
Debbie Leech
Anita Merritt
Nancy O'Connell
Neel Roberts
Dr. Jill Snell
Dr. Stanley Watson
Marc Quirion (Contour Construction)
Stavely Elks
Gary McKinnon (G & M Welding)
Neil Strauss (Nanton Home Hardware)
Wayne Parker (SkyShed)
Dr.
Stéphanie Côté
Dianne Daw
Marianne Durbano
Peter Lambert
Veronica Matheson
Karin Nakamura
Steve O'Connell
Jerry Robinson
Laura Snell
Carly Wright
Thane Hurlburt (Hurlburt Rock
Products)
Claresholm Kinsmen
Aldo Raffin (Raffin Transit Mix)
T Two Industries
Dale Anger
Dr.
Dennis Crabtree
Lousie Dodds
Wyatt Durbano
Calvin Lambie
David McVean
Warren Nicholls
Tawny O'Connell
Mathew Schmor
Ryan Snell
3 Anonymous Donors
You can view the year-long observatory
construction process by visiting our
flickr photostream.
Please help
support the observatory
by making a
donation today!
CanadaHelps.org
encrypts your data using Secure Socket
Layers (SSL)
Charitable
Registration Number: 86997 9021 RR0001
Adopt-A-Star
The colour of the traffic light
above indicates the status of our Adopt-A-Star program. A green light indicates that we are ready to process
Adopt-A-Star requests. A yellow light indicates that we expect to begin processing
Adopt-A-Star requests within a few days. Finally, a red light indicates that we are not able to process any
Adopt-A-Star requests at this time.
Book of the Day
Businesses that are subject to an increased risk of fraud require a special type of merchant account called a high risk merchant account.
Space History
January 1
On this day, back in 1801, Italian
astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi discovered the first asteroid. It was named Ceres, in
honour of the Roman goddess of agriculture. Ceres has a diameter of about 950
km, which makes it the largest asteroid in the Asteroid Belt. In 2006, the
International Astronomical Union adopted the term "dwarf planet" and since then
Ceres has been classified as a dwarf planet.
Big Sky News
The Nanton Legion recently
contributed $1000 to our 2010 Facility Enhancement Project.
Did You Know?
A light-year is a unit of distance, not time. It is simply the distance that light travels in one year. The speed of light is 299,792,458 metres per second and therefore in one year (365¼ days) light can traverse 9,460,730,472,580,800 metres. In other words, a light-year is equal to about 9.46 trillion kilometres.
.gif)
Charitable
Registration Number: 86997 9021 RR0001 
